Turned out that the lunges I complained about on Day 2 really kicked my ass, as in made my ass hurt like it had been kicked over and over and over by some sort of sadistic soccer player. When I woke up the next day I was definitely hurting like I had not hurt for awhile, so I decided to take the day off from the gym to let my body heal. Days where you don't go to the gym are a bit odd because without aerobic rush you get from a workout, you don't quite wake up completely until much later in the day.
And on the day I took off I very rarely left the couch because I was busy playing Fallout 3 with the little woman, who has really gotten into it since my last mention of it. Yes, we pretty much played games ALL day! We only got up for a little while to shower, do some cleaning, go down to the store to grab food for dinner and to cook. I think she also got up to do some laundry. I'm actually a bit disgusted by spending so much time in front of a game, but it was pretty fun and holy crap the cost vs. entertainment time is crazy good. We haven't spent this little money on a weekend... well, probably ever! Even so, I don't want to spend all our time playing games, even if we are enjoying them together. We live in a vibrant city now, with tons to do, so we need to make sure we take advantage of that.
Anyway, so yesterday was MLK day, and after spending part of the morning playing Fallout 3, I went to the gym and then later we drove down the Peninsula to have lunch with my grandmother and father. I was a bit worried that we would end up going somewhere I'd have to special order some low carb version of a plate, like a burger but with no bun, and that my grandmother would inquire as to why I was doing that, which would lead to me having to justify a low-carb diet to her, which wouldn't work and I'd be left feeling guilty because she would be left worrying about my health, but happily that didn't happen because we ended up in Max's, where they have a huge menu that includes a dish that is literally a one pound beef burger with brie cheese and no bun on a bed of greens (and potatoes, which I didn't eat). Wow, that was a long sentence, and wow, that was a perfect dish for my diet! Max's also had some non-sugar deserts, which tempted me, but I kept strong and didn't have any because I figured they were probably still high in carbs (like the sugar-free brownie... duh!). I was very close to getting some ice cream though...
After lunch, we hung out with my grandmother for a couple of hours before we hit the grocery store down there. Now we are lucky to have a good grocery store in our building, but it doesn't have quite the same selection as you find in the larger stores out in the suburbs, so we were able to pick up a few items we have been missing. For me, it was low carb ice cream and wheat germ. For her, it was pizza crust mix. We also hit Target for a few things we needed too. You know, after remembering that, I'm no longer sure we actually spent our least ever this weekend, but I could claim that since we went on Monday, it wasn't technically the weekend anymore. Whatever, even with the Monday expenditures, we've been good about spending this past couple weeks.
So, back to the boring part of this post, the day 3 of HST. Thanks to low-carb, yesterday morning was one of the hardest work-outs I can remember having. I started out with five minutes on the elliptical machine at level 16 to warm up, and already feeling low on energy. I felt fine through the chest and back lifts, but when I topped those off with pullups on the assisted lift machine, I found myself winded and struggling to find the energy to keep going. I literally felt levels of exhaustion like I usually only feel towards the end of a overly long work-out. Even my brain was struggling with what felt like extremely low blood sugar levels. But I pushed on, found enough Go to get me the next couple big muscle group/body exercises, squats and clean & presses, but man it was really hard. The end of my lifting consists of small muscle groups, like biceps, forearms and triceps, which didn't tax me too much, so I found enough energy to get on a stationary bike for five minutes at the end, but that was it. Working out while doing low-carb just sucks!
That general trend continued into this morning, in that I just don't have near the energy levels I have during my work-outs when I'm eating carbs. I woke up this morning and found that I felt great, as in no soreness left over from my lunges three days ago, nor the squats I did yesterday. So I went to the gym to do some cardio, starting with 10 minutes at level 16 on the elliptical machine (16 felt harder today than it ever has) and finishing with 15 minutes uphill (level 14) walking on the treadmill with two 15 second sprints at 9 mph. The lack of energy sucked, but there were two bright spots this morning:
The 1st is that Obama's inauguration was on TV, which was awesome. I didn't actually watch his swearing in there and then, I did that later at home with the woman, but watching the setup to it, with various leaders walking out on their way to the event, was a positive reminder that not only did our guy win, but that his win and his campaign are already historically significant events. I was reminded of my hope, or perhaps it's better to say that the hope I've had the audacity to feel again was stoked by what I saw, a record number of people out in the cold to see Obama sworn in as the President of the United States.
We watched the actual swearing in together, my arms around her, she holding her laptop on her lap (we watched in streamed live over the internet, as I couldn't get the TV to receive a clear broadcast signal - going to have to look into why that is) and crying. At one point, with Diane Finstein making the introductions at the podium, I looked out of our big windows at a beautiful day in the city and was very happy to be there, in that moment, in a city full of other Left-Coast San Francisco Democrats. Fuck Yeah!
Weight yesterday and today was 238.
Final Word: I've been taking fish oil supplements. I don't suggest taking them on an empty stomach before your workout as the burbs are horrible!
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